Last of Us - Too far away
by northwatcher
Summary: Sarah was not with Joel during the outbreak. Instead, she was in Europe with her team at the moment. Rate for language.


A/N: Okay, another attempt for some writting. Don't think I'll stick to it, I was just bored during college. English is not my first language and I sometimes mess up with UK and US vocabulary, so I apologise in advance for any possible mistakes. Also, I am the first to admit it, I am not a good writer.

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Joel got home from work in like, close to midnight. The day could not be described as ideal, quite the opposite actually. His contractor started to get bitchy about work progress and Joel was close to lose the contract. It didn't help that Tommy started to getting sick with the man, since he was delaying all payments for already finished jobs. Joel knew it too, but he didn't dare to push for the payments. If the client stopped with paying the actual minimum, Joel knew that he could not afford to donate his daughter.

Not that there was anything wrong with Sarah. Actually, she was doing great at the moment. Her soccer team was given possibility on going to practice tour in France, which exited Sarah sky-high. Joel was glad that his little girl was having a good time, and actually also because she didn't need to witness his frustration about the whole work mess. (1)

Speaking of which, just as Joel shut the doors and fell into the couch, the phone ringed. Joel started to fume, but calmed himself fast enough after realizing, that there could be only a few people who would call this late. And given the time difference between Texas and France, the most likely person to call was Sarah. So Joel picked the phone.

"Millers."

"Hi dad!" sounded exited voice of his daughter.

"Hey honey. You do realize that its late over here, right?" for some reason, that triggered a gasp from Sarah.

"Oh crud, what time is it at home?!" Joel looked to wall with clock.

"Close to midnight." Answered Joel, to which Sarah let out a deep breath.

"Oh good, so it's still today for you. So, where are you right now?" that was a little confusing.

"Just dropped in the coach."

"Perfect, so could you look under the coach?" Joel, confused, did just that and when he reached under the coach, he found a little box.

"What's that, hon?" when he opened the box, he found a watch in there.

"Your birthday. Before my departure, you kept complaining about broken watch, so I figured, you know? You like it?" said Sarah in hopeful voice.

"Yeah its nice, but how did you get it here, and more importantly, how did you get the money for this?" there was a pause, but Joel could swear that he heard a hushed voices and giggling in background. Most likely, Sarah's co-players.

"Well, about how is that in there, you know that Mrs. Copper has an emergency keys right?" When Sarah was little, Jane Copper used to watch over Sarah when Joel was out, so that would explain how it get in the living room. "And about the money, well. Let's just say that I had a good luck." Now Joel was concerned.

"As like, you were playing or something?" is it normal for twelve-year-old to gamble?

"No, more like I bet some people in here that I would score hattrick three times in a row." Answered Sarah proudly. And in addiction, Joel couldn't help but feel proud himself as well.

"And that won you enough to buy these watches?" what type of bets was that?

"You have any idea what you can buy for EUR 67,70?" (2)

"Don't know, I don't keep up with the exchange rate."

"Well, it was enough to buy and about the trans-Atlantic delivery, Kelly had to return home sooner, so she took it with her and gave it to Coopers with a note to leave it under the coach." Joel had to smile to that.

"Clever sneaky girl." Sarah chuckled in France.

"Yea, well, I learn from the best, dad." This was such a gold opportunity, that Joel had to take it.

"Okaay, I think you spent too much time with Tommy."

"Oh, haha." Sarah groaned, while Joel chuckled.

"But what are you doing up? What time is over there, like 7 a.m.?"

"It's 7:30 a.m. actually. We are leaving on train station in an hour, moving to PSG stadium. They are playing with Ukraine and we had tickets for whole team (3). Wanted to call yesterday, but forgot my phone and then fell into the bed."

"Don't mind, don't worry. Listen honey, daddy is tired and you should get ready. Call me when you arrive?"

"Sure dad. Happy birthday once more."

"Thanks honey. Love you."

"Love you too dad." And with that, Sarah hanged up. Joel hanged the phone and drifted to sleep on the coach.

 **Several hours later…**

The phone next to Joel's head has gone crazy. With a groan, Joel reached for the thing, while wondering, who the hell could it actually be. Sarah did say that that she will call once she was in Paris, but bloody hell, she was smart enough to know, that she should wait at least until noon to do so. Annoyed, he answered the call.

"What?" Joel was fast awake by rapid voice of his brother.

"Fuckin hell Joel! Pick your shit and be outside like NOW!" Joel's ears were screaming in pain by Tommy's voice.

"Tommy, what the hell's going on?! You wake me up in middle of night and want e to go out?! Did you kill somebody or what?!"

"Listen bro, something bad is going on! Long story short, a lot of dead people and it's getting worse by fucking second! Find a gun and wait for me! Be there in five!" with that, line went dead. Joel bursted out the coach and ran to his table for his gun. His brother was a pain, true, but he never extravagated. If something was wrong, it was fucking wrong.

Joel took the gun from drawer just in time, when something hit the glass door. Joel aimed at the door, realizing that Jimmy Cooper was trying to ram the glass.

"Jimmy!" Joel warned while pointing the gun at the man. He was like crazy.

"Jimmy, stop it!" made no difference, Jimmy was still ramming the glass, even when he was visibly bleeding from head. On the third attempt, the doors gave up. Joel didn't think, he just pulled the trigger. Jimmy fell on the ground.

"Shit Jimmy!" Joel cursed, as he didn't believe he just did that.

"JOEL?!" Tommy, who just arrived and heard the shot called for his brother.

"In here!" Tommy rushed in the room with his gun in hand, looking at the dead man.

"Oh fuck. You okay?" Tommy was visibly disrupted.

"Yeah, Imma fine."

"You sure? Didn't he bite, or something?!"

"No, just as he broke in, I shot him. he was like mad!"

"NO time for it, we need to get out! Get in the trunk!" both brother ran out of the house and jumped into Tommy's car. A few seconds later, they were driving through night way road.

"So, can you explain to me, what the hell is going on?!" tommy was silent for a good time. Then with deep breath, he started.

"There's…, something wrong. People started to go crazy all suddenly. They say that they're kinda sick or something. The strange thing is, it out broke in big cities."

"All across Texas?!" Tommy actually snorted to this.

All across whole fucking country Bro!" Joel was shocked shitless to this. and suddenly, a horrible thought took over his mind.

"And what other places?" he was scared to hear the answer. And by looking at Tommy, he was terrified to madness.

"There are rumors, that it's… fuck. That it's all over the world." Tommy almost whispered and Joel's blood has turned cold.

"DO YOU HAVE A PHONE?!" without a word, Tommy passed Joel his phone. While Joel was rapidly searching for Sarah's number, they passed a burning house with people running out from it. Burning too.

Finally finding his daughter's number, Joel put the phone to his ear. It was deaf.

"Fuck. It's dead!" Tommy didn't dare to guess what was running through Joel's head. Altogether, he had enough with was going through his. And to think that Sarah was out there… shit.

"Try again! It might go after a while." Tommy advised. Meanwhile, they got into town, where were already soldiers everywhere. Joel dilated Sarah's number again. After several torturous seconds, she finally picked up.

"Sarah, honey!" Joel screamed into the phone. And his heart sanked, when he heard Sarah's sobbing.

"Daddy?! Daddy, what is going on?!" she was terrified, that obvious even from the phone.

"I don't know sweetheart, but it's going to be okay, you hear me?"

"I'm scarred daddy!" cried Sarah into the phone. Joel was shaking shitless.

"It's going to be alright baby girl. Where are you? Is there someone with you?" Sarah whispered something into the phone. Just now Joel realized, that there had to be other people with her, all same terrified as him and his daughter.

"There is a lot of people here dad. We just arrived on the station in Paris, when it started. People were screaming and running. Mr. Hickey told us to keep together and follow him but… they got him daddy. He was screaming and.." with that, Sarah cried harder. Joel could not even breath.

"There was this guy, he looked like a cop. He shot those who attacked Michael and screamed something at us. I didn't understand him, but he was pointing to some doors, so we ran there. There were already other people here. Then the doors shut but… they are there daddy! They are behind the doors!" Joel could not believe what he was hearing. That was too much.

"Listen to me honey! It's going to be okay, you hear me? They will come to save you. You will go home, you hear me! You will be alright, I promise you that, you understand baby?!" There were some hard sounds in Sarah's background, which Joel didn't hear for his own voice. Sarah was crying still harder.

"I love you, daddy." She almost whispered. Joel was heartbroken by this. He understood. She believed, that she was going to die.

"I love you too honey, but listen to me, please! It's going to be alright!" the sounds in background got hard enough for Joel to hear them. And he could only helplessly listen, as the doors, keeping his little girl safe shot open, with these things rushing into terrified people, along with his daughter among them. Before the line went down, Joel, with shaky hands holding the phone and with tears in his eyes heard the most terrible sound, he never before dared to even imagine.

"DAAAD!"

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A/N: I have some ideas about possible multichapter story, but ideas are not all thinks required. Time, motivation, and also actual interest in that would be good.  
Following trivias are mostly because I want to be fair to any potentional readers all over. And also, because it's really funny to imagine the frustration it will cause :D

(1) Soccer. Honestly, It's the first-time when Iactually used the word and that is only for my resignation to that topic. For me, its football, it always was football and it always will be damn football.

(2) Roughly 70 - 80 USD at the time? Not sure myself, didn't actually count it, but I think it's something like that, give or take.

(3) Actual UEFA 2012 match, Group A. Paris Saint-Germain defeated Dynamo Kyiv 4:1. This match was actually played on September 18, while Joel's birthday was confirmed as September 26. Since it wouldn't fit, just consider that Joel was born a week sooner.


End file.
